The sovereignty debate still divides Montreal residents with most respondents in a Global/Ipsos Canada’s Pulse survey still sitting on the fence.
When asked do you “support a sovereign and independent Quebec,” more than 40% would neither strongly agree or disagree. And it was split down the middle for those that could give a firm answer, with 29% strongly agreeing and 28% disagreeing.
Those numbers have stayed pretty much the same over the years and that stable level of support for sovereignty gives reason for the debate to continue.
“We don’t talk enough about the advantages of being a country,” says Jean-Marc Aussant, who has created a new political party called Option Nationale, “deciding for ourselves what we want to become and that’s what we have to do again.”
The soverignist movement has been splintering in recent months with stalwarts like Louise Beaudoin and Lisette Lapointe leaving the PQ. And some believed that the decimation of the Bloc Quebecois in the last federal election was the beginning of the end of the separation debate in Quebec.
But political analyst Anne Legace Dowson doesn’t see it that way. She believes the younger generation is more concerned with the economy and jobs than separation. But she points out the nationalist movement is very good at firing up the troops.
“There’s a very effective campaign being waged at all times on sort of a very low frequency, but my sense is that a lot of people have grown tired of it.”
Still the Canada’s Pulse poll proves that the question of separation may never go away.
Comments